A Girl's Best Friend
by Avirra
Summary: A walk in the park isn't always as peaceful as it should be. Written for the Challenge from Other Challenges - this one is from #20, the Original Character Challenge Prompts: CM : Derek Morgan - OC : Anastasia Womack - Woman walking her dog in the park


Written for the Challenge from Other Challenges - this one is from #20, the Original Character Challenge

Prompts:  
CM : Derek Morgan  
OC : Anastasia Womack - Woman walking her dog in the park

* * *

**A Girl's Best Friend**

_"Even the tiniest poodle is lionhearted, ready to do anything to defend home, master, and mistress."_ ~**Louis Sabin**

"Be just another minute, Rasputin. I'm almost done."

Twenty-eight year old Anastasia Womack finished lightly applying the styling wax to keep the 'deliberately casual' spikes in her red and white in place. Satisfied with her efforts, she bent over and snapped the lime green leash's catch onto the equally lime green collar of her impatient puggle before glancing at her wristwatch.

"See? We're leaving at exactly the same time we always leave. Oh well. My fault. If I wanted a patient dog, I don't suppose I should have named you Rasputin."

At six-thirty am, the woman and dog pair left their apartment building and headed for the nearby park. It was Ana's day off, but she was a creature of habit. Besides, it was a beautiful morning and she enjoyed the daily morning romp with Rasputin as much as the dog did.

"Hi, Jacq!"

Rasputin gave a friendly wiggle and soft bark toward the woman cyclist that had pulled up to the water fountain to refill her water bottle. Jacq was the first real Olympic hopeful that Ana had ever met and she stuck to her training regime like clockwork, so they saw each other every morning for the five minutes Jacq stopped to get water and take a break. Rasputin wasn't at all sure that Jacq's cycle wasn't a cat in disguise and always gave it a wary sniff before ignoring it in favor of a good head scratch.

"How's the training going?"

"Great! Two more weeks and I'll be heading out to my trials. I'll really miss seeing you and this little guy every morning."

"Rasputin will miss you too. You spoil him rotten."

"Oops – time to hit the cycle again. Have a nice walk. See you tomorrow."

Watching as the cyclist disappeared around a curve, Ana and Rasputin started down the walking/jogging trail that ran around the outer edge of the park. As usual, it was pretty quiet this time of day, but she found herself frowning and looking around behind her. By this far down the trail, she normally ran in Sid, a marathoner who jogged every morning at the same time she walked Rasputin. He'd normally slow to a walk briefly to exchange a couple of pleasantries before jogging off again. She hoped he wasn't sick.

Then her attention was drawn ahead to the bench where another park regular was normally perched. When she saw the two men standing beside the area and saw plastic covering the bench and the yellow tape surrounding the area, she got a bad feeling.

The two men were about as different as two men could get. Well, both good looking, but one looked like he could be a teacher and the other looked like he could be on a football team. Getting a little closer showed that they both wore guns, so she assumed they must be police officers and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me. Nothing has happened to Mister Felton, has it?"

Both men's heads came up immediately and the football playing type came over.

"I'm Derek Morgan with the BAU. You know Mister Felton?"

"Well, sort of. I met him two years ago after I got Rasputin. He and his wife were at that bench every morning, feeding the birds and watching the world go by – as they put it. Once we started talking, they'd even bring a dog biscuit for Rasputin. His wife passed away about nine months ago, but Mister Felton kept up the habit of coming here every morning. Honestly, I know him better than I know my neighbors."

"Do you possibly know his next of kin?"

That question froze Ana's blood slightly, but she nodded, keeping her questions to herself. She really had no business being nosey even though she would like to pay him a visit if he was hospitalized.

"He has a daughter, but she lives in California. But his grandson is here in the area. Uhm – let me think. He mentioned his name just recently. Warren, Warren Bolton. He goes to Georgetown University and he's in his second year there."

As Morgan jotted down the information, she glanced back along the trail again. When he looked up from his notebook, Morgan noticed her gaze.  
"Looking for someone?"

Ana was slightly embarrassed, but nodded.

"Those of us that hit the park here every day know each other. At least in passing. I don't even know his last name, but Sid and I generally speak every morning. He jogs at the same time I take Rasputin for his walk. He's known the Feltons longer than I have, so he might know more."

"Well, you've already given us more than we had. Could I get your information in case we need to contact you again?"

"Of course. Anastasia Womack. My apartment house is across the street from the main entrance."

Rasputin thoroughly sniffed around Morgan's shoes while she gave him her full address and the number to her cell phone.

"Anyone else a regular that maybe might have seen anything?"

"Of the ones I know? Just Jacq. That's Jacqueline Clark. She's going to be one of our Olympians. She cycles two hours every morning. I see her at her halfway point just past 6:30."

"Any idea where she lives?"

"Not exactly. Within biking distance. I think she said it takes her about 20 minutes to get here, but I don't know what direction she comes from. But she's signed up for the Olympic trials in two weeks. The local Olympic committee probably has her contact information."

The trim man who seemed to be fond of purple was still by the bench, but currently speaking with someone over his phone. Morgan cast a glance over to where she was looking, then gave a slight smile as she blushed at being caught. Honestly, she didn't know why she'd blushed. Looking was still free, after all.

"Have you seen anyone else around? Anyone that isn't someone that's normally here this time of day or who seemed out of place?"

"There was one man I saw for the first time about a week ago. I don't think I would have paid any attention to him, but he really annoyed Mister Felton. Acted like Mister Felton shouldn't be sitting out here every morning and threatened to report him as a derelict. I've seen him a couple of times since then. I don't know what his deal is, but he seems like he's in a permanent bad mood. "

"How does he look?"

"He's always wearing a suit. Navy blue, matching tie, white shirt. Sunglasses even on days when it's fairly cloudy. White guy, skin tone a little paler than your co-worker over there. Not as tall as you. I'd guess he'd be three or four inches shorter than you. No facial hair. He wears a hat, but what hair I've been able to see was either light brown or dark blond. His weight tends a bit to the heavy side."

"Anyone ever tell you that you have a good eye for detail?"

"Thanks. My job is interpreting x-rays, so I guess that's all part of the job."

Her attention was drawn to her dog who had picked up something off the ground. Her voice was sharp.

"Rasputin! Drop!"

To Morgan's bemusement, the dog not only immediately dropped what he had (a green pinecone, of all things), but immediately backed away from it, casting a sheepish look to his mistress.

"That's a good command. I'll have to see if I can get my dog to learn it."

Morgan's head turned then as his co-worker called out.

"Morgan! Hotch wants us!"

"On my way, Reid!"

Turning back around, Morgan offered Ana his hand and then his card. She accepted both.

"Thanks for your cooperation. If you think of anything else or see something? Give me a call."

"I will. I'm not sure what you're looking for, but good luck."

He flashed her another grin and gave Rasputin a quick pat before heading over to join Reid. Ana cast one more look to the plastic covering Mister Felton's bench, shivered a little and started walking again.

It was either very late at night or very early in the morning when the team gathered to compare notes after Rossi and Hotch returned from the scene where a third body was found. They had been called in after the second murder because of an obvious similarity as well as the case being so close to home. The map was up and Reid was indicating three circles - all in the area of the park and all fairly close to one another.

"Alright. First victim has now been identified as Sidney Bryant, age 27. According to his sister, he was a avid marathoner and jogged daily to keep in shape. That was apparently was he was doing when he was attacked. He took a hit to the head, presumably stunning him - at which time our Unsub strangled him with a rope ligature."

"Second victim, Joseph Felton, age 72. Apparently with his age, our Unsub didn't feel the need to strike him first and he was strangled. Also a rope ligature and the pattern of the rope was the same. Rossi?"

Rossi stood up and took over where Reid left off, indicating the third circle.

"Our third victim was found last night. Jacqueline Clark, age 20."

Morgan's head snapped up at that and he was grabbing his notebook.

"Jacqueline Clark. Olympic hopeful?"

All eyes turned to Morgan and Rossi nodded.

"As a matter of fact, yes. She was cycling as part of her training and someone ambushed her. From the look of her cycle, it appears our Unsub caused her to crash and used the same type of rope ligature on her before she recovered. She was probably killed early yesterday morning, but her body wasn't discovered until last night. One big difference between her and our other two victims is that she was sexually assaulted immediately prior to death. Where did you get information on her?"

"Lady I spoke to in the park yesterday morning. Anastasia Womack. She was acquainted with Mister Felton - she's the one that I got the information from that put us in touch with his grandson. When I asked about other park regulars, Miss Clark's name came up and -"

Morgan paused as he thought back.

"Damn. Sid. She was worried that another park regular might have been sick because she hadn't seen him like she normally did."

"Sid could easily be a nickname for our first victim. Could be the same person."

Rossi leaned forward.

"So all three of our victims were park regulars. And not only regulars, but regulars that were all in the park during the same time frame daily?"

Morgan nodded then his eyes moved back to Reid, who was moving back to the map with a look on his face that said he'd spotted something but hadn't quite grasped what it was he'd spotted yet. It was another minute before Reid began to think out loud.

"The cyclist and the jogger. It could have been anything along their path. But Mister Felton was pretty much a fixture. So to speak. Which would mean that it would have to be something within his expected range of vision."

Garcia had latched onto where Reid's thoughts were taking him and gasped.

"Wait, so you think this Unsub is planning something in that area?"

Rossi went back to the map as well.

"And possibly getting rid of witnesses before the fact. Morgan, Miss Womack may either be involved somehow or in danger herself."

Morgan looked at his watch. 6:15 am.

"She'll be getting to the park in about 15 minutes. She said she spoke to Miss Clark every morning at around 6:30."

Hotch was already out of his seat and moving toward the door.

"Let's move it, people. Whichever side she's on, time may be short."

The team quickly drove to the park and headed in, vests on as they headed down the trail that led by the bench. The bench was in sight when they heard a scream ring out. But the scream was masculine.

Running toward the sound, Hotch and Morgan arrived first and stopped dead, both wincing. Reid's view of whatever they were looking at was blocked by their bodies, so he looked past, seeing a woman's body down on the ground. He kept his eyes on the downed woman and sprinted past to check on her, trying not to imagine what was happening and why he was hearing a dog growling.

Morgan found his voice and took pity on the Unsub.

"Rasputin! Drop!"

The small dog immediately obeyed, though he did give Morgan what seemed to be a puzzled look. At least they didn't need to worry about their Unsub making a run for it. He was too busy moaning and cupping his hands protectively over his wounded genitals.

"Hotch, she's alive. We need an ambulance."

Hearing Reid's voice, Morgan breathed a sigh of relief before looking over to Hotch.

"Better make that two. I wouldn't want to make her share an ambulance with this creep."

His bright leash trailing behind him, Rasputin plopped himself down at Ana's side. Reid was slightly nervous when the growl started again, but it was quickly obvious that all of the growling was being directed toward the groaning man.

It didn't take long to wrap the case up. Their guess as to his motive had been correct. The Unsub had been casing one of the buildings across the way for a robbery and, while noting the times that the police patrol usually went through, he also noticed the individuals who also seemed to always be on the scene. As he was timing his crime with the morning shift change at the local station, he decided that the best way to handle possible witnesses was to get rid of those witnesses before the crime.

The doctors confirmed that Rasputin got to the Unsub (now identified as Richard Manus) before he was able to complete his intended sexual assault on Miss Womack. She would very likely benefit from counseling and she would have livid bruising on her neck for awhile, but all in all, she had been very lucky. Rasputin found himself exonerated from biting as it was unquestionably done in defense of his mistress - he was then feted by the newspapers as the hero of the hour in helping catch the three-times murderer. Morgan even took the time to contact the American Humane Association and enter Rasputin for the Hero Dog award.

In all, the case was one that the team could feel good about. While the loss of the three innocent lives was tragic, the fact was that there was no telling how many more people the paranoid man might have eventually killed if he hadn't been stopped when he was. Especially after he had added a sexual element to his profile. When they came back into their offices following Manus' trial and conviction, Morgan nudged Reid and pointed to Garcia's office. The perky tech-wiz had added a poster-sized image of Rasputin to her walls with the caption 'A better best friend than diamonds'. Nobody disagreed.


End file.
